Our bettas fins are turning to a burned/ash color and we all thought it was fur coat syndrome. After searching the web for the little info we could find we don't think this matches up with fur coat.

A big thing that worries us is our bettas are being kept in good conditions(Except for Fightergirl's who was in bad conditions at the pet store) and based on the description of the disease shouldn't of been targeted. We're wondering if this is something new, or maybe a different strain of the bacteria that causes fur coat syndrome. And why are they all blue? It could be a coincidence, but we shouldn't ignore it.

It is generally characterized by discoloration of tissue, particularly the fins, to a dark brown or black and a grey or brown 'fur' or mold over the body, usually starting across the back and at the base of the fins and rapidly spreading to cover most of the body.

It sounds similar, except none of our fish appeared fuzzy at all which makes me wonder if it's a new type of Fur coat Syndrome.

Sapphires started from the edges then moved inward, later it appeared at the base of the anal fin and was moving rapidly downwards while the tips of the anal fin where moving up rapidly. Note: He's a tail biter and the frayed look is not from the infection.

This is Sakura's fish, it's was attacked from the base of the caudal fin.

This is Fighter Girls

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If you look closely, the bottom half of his tail was affected, the tail didn't get covered completely though... He didn't have much of it left as you can see. It wasn't fuzzy, it just looked grey, you could see the scales and everything but it looked like tissue was dying. He lost all mobility in the back of his body and he was gone in 12 hours, maybe less.

May have had other causes but similar symptoms

This is Pitluvs Betta Venom, we aren't sure if he had this infection or chemical burns but I'm posting it anyway since it moved quickly.

This is from a older thread by BettaRed and her fish also seems to show the same symptoms. I can't be sure for this one since the member was short lived and seemed to be treating with marine salt. Could that of burned her betta? http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=57359

I have to add we are not 100% sure what happened with Venom, but I dare not to use the conditioner again to see if it was chemical burn. Fur coat was tossed around as well. And also, colors on my camera were not the best back then. This was with flash as it was 1am. Oh it's so hard looking at these photos :(

Would infection travel to the body within an hour? By the end of it all, Venom had not a single fin left.

Fur coat can be contracted from a fish being kept in colder water, it appears like your fish is encased on a white cloudy cotton, like a fur coat making it difficult for the fish to swim. I dont see anything in the pics of those fish resembling fur coat. I only guessed a new, more aggressive, strain of fin rot because it appears to attack the fins. Maybe this new bacterial strain can thrive in clean water as well. I dont know, just offering a guess.

I can see the parallels to fur coat syndrome, but I don't understand one thing. Fur coat syndome is supposed to be HIGHLY contageous. In most of the homes where these sick fish were, there were other bettas present. In some cases, they were even in divided tanks with other bettas. Why didn't the other fish get sick? It's also really odd that its only seen in blue fish. Maybe there's something genetic at play? Could this be some type of immune system disorder, where the body sort of attacks itself?

I can see the parallels to fur coat syndrome, but I don't understand one thing. Fur coat syndome is supposed to be HIGHLY contageous. In most of the homes where these sick fish were, there were other bettas present. In some cases, they were even in divided tanks with other bettas. Why didn't the other fish get sick? It's also really odd that its only seen in blue fish. Maybe there's something genetic at play? Could this be some type of immune system disorder, where the body sort of attacks itself?

@BETTA DET
Whatever it is it's pretty scary :( I had looked at Sapphire 2 hours earlier when I inspected all my fish and he appeared fine, I come back 2 hours later and that's how he looked.

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it appears like your fish is encased on a white cloudy cotton, like a fur coat making it difficult for the fish to swim

Do you mean at the inward edge of the colorless section? I think that is just the color being diluted but I don't know for sure.

Here's another cropped section of the same photo, I picked a different section of the tail that wasn't so frayed.

*EDIT*

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I can see the parallels to fur coat syndrome, but I don't understand one thing. Fur coat syndome is supposed to be HIGHLY contageous. In most of the homes where these sick fish were, there were other bettas present. In some cases, they were even in divided tanks with other bettas. Why didn't the other fish get sick? It's also really odd that its only seen in blue fish. Maybe there's something genetic at play? Could this be some type of immune system disorder, where the body sort of attacks itself?

I had Sapphire in a 10g with 3 other males (1 who is a blue mustard gas) so if they get it within a few days it means it is contagious :( I have them all QT with aquarium salt and tannins while I sanitize their tank+dividers over night, hopefully they don't get it, if they do it must be contagious.

Tail type, I only had a HM, Venom was a VT. Carnage was also a black copper, not blue. All my fish have been in the same tap water, and used the same conditioner. Just throwing those out there in case there's a connection.